Inspired by Reesesbookclubxhellosunshine - Our Reading Goals for 2018
by Kimberley Allen McNamara
As Writers we make resolutions in January (truthfully, we make them every week) :
to write at least 1600 words per day,
submit several times per month,
to finish the rough draft, to revise that revision, to check out markets...
And read more books - because just like a healthier diet which requires you to feed the furnace (ie: eat for the healthier you rather than starve yourself fit) a writer MUST read to write better.
In truth everyone should have the Goal to be become a better reader. Reading expands horizons and keeps one from becoming stagnant. No one else embraces this more than Reese Witherspoon and her HelloSunshine which is a a multimedia platform dedicated to telling Women’s stories - female driven stories. A recent instagram post of reesesbookclubxhellosunshine encouraged everyone to be a better Reader by embracing these 5 Goals:
Read a book a week
Stay on track with Reese's picks
Visit a local bookstore at least once a month
Read a new genre
Listen to an audio book
These are achievable goals indeed. Goal #2 is, of course, requires an interaction with Reese’s book recommendations and considering HelloSunshine’s mission statement these will be female driven works. Reese’s picks can be found on instagram @ reesesbookclubxhellosunshine. Incidentally, Grubstreet's and Boston/Cambridge resident Celeste Ng was featured by Reese Witherspoon and HelloSunshine for Ng's runaway best seller and second novel: Little Fires Everywhere. (link to podcast here)
A sampling of our ActsofRevision.com group reveals the following books we are reading and several others that are sitting in our TBR (to be read) pile. We tend to read novels concurrently with a craft or a nonfiction book. Some of us read some on Kindle and also own the physical book too - moving betwixt and between. Some of us actually own the Audible version, the hardcover and the digital and are therefore never without the book.
Goal #1 Here is what we are reading this week and the next and the next.... (Goal #s 2 & 4 intermixed!)
The Island Of Worthy Boys - local author Connie Mayo, from my hometown, wrote this historical novel that takes place in the late 1800's of Boston. Two street smart boys evade police and reach for their one chance at a new start at life when they attend a school for indigent and orphaned boys. Connie Mayo published her book through She Writes Press, a hybrid publishing company and won an Independent Book Publishers Award.
To be finished: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot. Not sure why this had been sitting on my to do list. It was engaging and interesting. Maybe today will be the day?
Next up: The Power - Naomi Alderman, - speculative fiction which takes our world and exposes it the light of an alternate reality.
Salt to The Sea, Ruta Sepetys a WWII era novel based on real events told from the POV of four different teens.
Currently reading: The Kept by James Scott (Another novel by a Grubstreet instructor) with a 12 year old protagonist who embodies such ferocity as Mattie Ross of True Grit.
Concurrently reading: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - explores how the two systems (fast thinking and slow thinking) shape our choices and our decisions.
On the stack: An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen make their Way to Mastery by Janna Malamud Smith is a philosophical, analytical, and historical examination of the creative impulse; Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado a finalist for the National Book Award bends genre to tell the stories of the realities of women; Roseanna: A Martin Beck Mystery by the crime writing duo Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahloo.
For character research, I’m reading The Historian’s Craft by Marc Bloch—a classic for students of history.
For craft, Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel, by Lisa Cron. (I’m finding it riveting and taking notes.)
And for fiction, I’m reading The Best American Short Stories 2017 (a constant on my Christmas list and my usual first read of the year).
On my TBR is another Christmas gift, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas, which was on the Kirkus Review list of best books of 2017 - a question of ballast: motherhood and ambition.
Currently Reading: Kiss Me, Someone, an excellent compilation of short stories by Karen Shepard, centered around women of all ages and stations, many of mixed race identity, all dealing with all coming undone.
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Essays by comedian and 'bitches gotta eat' blogger Samantha Irby. Sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet musings from everything from applying for the 'Bachelorette' to coming to mental illness to facing a traumatic childhood, all told with self-deprecating humor, and heart.
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. Alan Watts, one of the foremost interpreters of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, posits we are not stand alone entities but all part of one super psyche. Yeah, I'm reading that.
On the 'To Do, or Read' List: The City Baker's Guide to Country Living. (finally) Louise Miller's debut novel is a quirky culinary adventure in which a city baker discovers the true meaning of home, and that the best things you find are the ones for which you didn't even know you were looking.
Naomi Alderman's The Power. An inventive feminist thriller, drawing comparisons to Alderman's mentor, Margaret Atwood.
The Road to Character. New York Times columnist, David Brooks, whose work - especially this year - provides a national moral compass, looks to the world's greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders to explore how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have build a strong inner character.
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund - One of the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2017; An NPR and MPR Best Books of 2017
Sisters by Lily Tuck. In this book Tuck offers a very different portrait of marital life, exposing the intricacies and scandals of a new marriage sprung from betrayal
Manhattan Beach: A Novel by Jennifer Egan Set on Brooklyn’s docks during WWII it’s full of mobsters, the looming war, and the first female diver.
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - a continuation of the Waverley family and the town of Bascom as they await the first frost while magic swirls around them.
Natural Disaster: I cover them. I am one. by Ginger Zee, a memoir by America’s Favorite Meteorologist who reveals her struggles with depression.
Weather for Dummies by John D. Cox, - (clearly I’m on a weather theme) Seriously, with all this wacky weather I thought I’d go back to basics.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan - love the movie and soundtrack thought I'd read the book.
Essence of Malice (an Amory Ames mystery) by Ashley Weaver. The wife and husband amateur crime solving duo, who bring to life “a-good-murder-mystery-love-story", are back at it in the City of Light.
Crime Fiction: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bradford which explores the history of crime fiction.
Waiting in the wings:
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng - a Reese's bookclub pick for September 2017 .
Sing,Unburied, Sing: A Novel by Jessmyn Ward and the National Book Award Winner
and Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito - international best seller about the drama of a courtroom in the aftermath of a school shooting.
Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks on Audible (narrated by Tom Hanks).
Goal # 3: Visiting local bookstores - Some of the local book stores favorited by our group: Trident Books , Porter Square Books, Harvard Bookstore and Newtonville Books . These bookstores host weekly readings and events. They have staff picks and reasons why books are being showcased. Check them out and check out your local bookstore you'll be glad that you did.
Goal #5 : Recommendations on Audible.com: Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) narrated by Rachel McAdams, When Will There Be Good News (Kate Atkinson) narrated by Ellen Archer, A Piece of the World (Christina Baker Kline) narrated by Polly Stone, The Husband’s Secret (Liane Moriarty) narrated by Caroline Lee and Everything I Never Told You (Celeste Ng) narrated by Cassandra Campbell. For Children's literature: Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer narrated by Nathaniel Parker.
What are your reading goals for 2018?
